A New Life: Chapter 17: Something's Gotta Give
by betterthings89
Summary: This saga is about the lives of the children of Lilly&Oliver and their friends children too. This chapter is about facing the future, maturing, and re-thinking things. Please leave reviews!


_* I hope you like this! __**Please leave reviews**__!_

**A New Life**

**-Chapter 17: Something's Gotta Give–**

It was nearing the second half of the summer. Jimmy, now close to seventeen, was forced to think of things in a more mature manner. He had to think about things he didn't necessarily want to have to consider.

"Jimmy, you know we have to talk about it sometime." Alice called out from behind.

"Why's it gotta be now?"

"Why not now? Now is perfect!"

"No it's not. I have the day off and I just want to relax and enjoy the beach, is that too much to ask?" He said as he shed his shirt on his beach towel. A few girls walking by took notice of him and tried not to stare. Alice reciprocated by abandoning her own shirt. She was wearing a two-piece bikini that made it hard for Jimmy to look her in the eyes.

"Up here big guy." Alice said, grabbing his very pointed chin and tilting his face upwards.

"Sorry. Can we talk about this later? Please?"

"Fine, but you know we're gonna have to talk about college sooner or later. It won't go away."

"I know. I know."

What Jimmy was worried about was the fact that he and Alice where going to be studying entirely different things in college. He would most likely be heading off to a college where he could study to go to medical school. This would mean he would be referred to as a "pre-med" student. On the other hand Alice was pretty sure she would be best suited as a teacher. Jimmy had found this rather amusing since his mother was a teacher. And as usual his father had made a rather embarrassing comment saying that _"Oken men seem to be attracted to the same kind of women." _All of this would mean that eventually Jimmy was going to have to face the reality that he and Alice would be going to separate colleges and wouldn't be seeing much of each other. This meant they would have to consider breaking up and hoping they could get back together later on down the road.

"Hey Jimmy isn't that your brother?"

Jimmy gazed over at where Alice was looking. He saw a long haired boy who was now almost half a foot taller than his other friends and thinner than all but one. Michael was walking down the beach with his friends Susan and Robbie Stewart, Charlie, and a girl Jimmy didn't recognize.

"He never seems to be able to hold any weight. He's gonna be a six-foot tall string bean when he's my age."

"Give him a break. He's adorable. And so what if he's skinny. Not everyone's got to have a body like you." Alice ran her hand over his chest.

"Look who's talking." Jimmy said, running his hand over Alice's thigh. He attempted to kiss her, but she moved her face and consequently her lips out of his reach.

"That girl he's with…"

"Who says _he's_ with her. They're _all_ with her."

"That's what they all think. But I know what's goin' on."

"Well, then clue me in. I don't seem to be seeing the same thing you're seeing."

"Well Michael's walking in front of her right now. Look, you can see she's got a big grin on her face."

"It's not that big."

"Well, it's enough you can tell she likes what she sees."

"So…how can you tell that? She could be smiling at the bracelet he's wearing."

"That's a diabetic alert bracelet for if he gets taken to the hospital." Alice quipped.

"So you think she's into my little brother?"

"Yeah, you can tell she's checking him out cause every time they're side by side she loses the smile like she doesn't want him to see."

"Well if she was attracted to him she'd want him to see it, right?"

"They're almost thirteen. At that age it's still a little embarrassing. Oh, see now she's in front of him and…"

"…And he's the one smiling now. You don't think he likes her, do you?"

"Well if you catch them kissing…you know…the way everybody found out about us…then you'll know."

"But there's no way! He's always liked Susan. Or at least that's what it seemed like. I mean when he was in the wheelchair she was the one he wanted to see more than anyone. But maybe…"

"Yeah, maybe things change. Maybe over time people start to realize they like different people than they thought. Wait and see. I bet he'll surprise you."

"I know he will. I wouldn't say this to his face, but Michael has always been a really special kid. And I don't mean _duuhr_ special. I mean, I've always known he could do whatever he set himself to do. He's really great at baseball. And he's at least as good a surfer as I am. Don't tell him I said that. So there's no reason he can't…"

"Get any girl he wants. You're right. He's a real catch. He's really funny. He must get that from his big brother. He's got a smile just like you too."

"My sister does too. You know it sounds like you've got a little crush on my brother. Should I be worried?"

"What do you think?" She didn't give him time to answer before she kissed him on the lips.

Alex and Kristen seemed to be walking on eggshells as far as their dating relationship was concerned. Even though he was trying especially hard to be a good boyfriend to Kristen, Alex seemed more and more out of focus when it came to her.

"We need to talk Alex." Kristen said plainly.

"About what?" Alex feigned ignorance.

"You're a smart guy, you tell me."

"I know, you're still upset about that scene between Rose and me a while back."

"It's not that and you know it. I told you a million times I'm not holding that against you. You where just doing what any good friend would do, you where looking out for her."

"Ok, then what is it we need to talk about."

"You know perfectly well. We haven't been on the same channel lately. You're focused more on the girl you _wish_ was you're girlfriend and less on the one who _is _your girlfriend."

"That's not true. Haven't I been taking you on dates every weekend? Haven't I paid lots of attention to you?"

"Yeah, we've been on a lot of dates recently, but I think that's just you trying to hide the fact that you can't get Rose out of your head. You thought you could, but it's just not working out that way."

"What are you saying Kris? Are you saying you've had enough, and you want to break up with me?"

"I don't really want it to come to that, but if it keeps going this way it's gonna end up happening."

"Well, what do you want me to do? Stop being friends with Rose? Cause that already happened; she hates me and won't ever talk to me again."

"I want you to be as close to me as you wanted to be with her."

"I'm not even sure I know what that means."

"I want you to love me. Cause I think… at least I thought I was starting to fall in love with you Alex."

"I want to… I really do…but…"

"You can't. That's what I thought. I'm really sorry you feel that way."

"So, you're breaking up with me then?"

"I think you just did that yourself."

"Wow, I thought we'd be stronger than this."

"Well, I guess not. I never really had a chance. You knew that from the beginning, and so did I."

"So, can we still be friends then?"

"I think so." She began to tear up.

"Don't cry. It'll be okay. There'll be ot…" She cut him off, pulling him into a kiss. It was a very strong and sensual moment. They both felt the feelings at this moment, that they knew weren't meant to be and wouldn't last.

"Well I guess I'll see you around Alex."

"See you…"

Rose came downstairs at nearly noon to be greeted by her mother.

"Why aren't you out with Ben right now?" Lilly asked.

"He's out with 'the guys'" Rose said, a look of indifference on her face.

"When's the last time you two where on a date?"

"I don't know. I couldn't tell you. I've been asking him out lately. Isn't he supposed to be the one doing that?"

"You would think that, wouldn't you?"

"Still, he's a great guy…" Rose only partly seemed to believe what she was saying.

"So are you finally gonna tell me what happened with you an Alex? It's been two months."

"Why not? He saw Ben was cheating on me."

"Ben was doing what now?"

"We worked it out."

"You really think so?"

"I hope so. But anyway, one thing at a time okay?"

"Alright. I wanna hear everything."

"Well Alex came to me right after Ben and I had a fight about him…and other girls..."

"…And you where down and Alex telling you what you already knew felt like him rubbing salt in the wound. So then what happened?"

"I kind of told him to never talk to me again. I think I might have really hurt him. I hope he'll forgive me…"

Lilly could see what was going on in her daughters' mind that she wouldn't admit. The feelings she wouldn't put out in the open. "Oh, honey, I'm sure he'll get over it. But you might want to help him do that."

"How do I do that?"

"Well, you need to get him by himself and talk to him and tell him you're sorry for what you said to him."

"The getting him alone part might be hard. He's got a girlfriend and they're going out on dates all the time."

"Well, when the time is right, you'll have the chance to make things right."

"Thanks mom. What should I do about Ben? Things were going great but now, ever since that thing with Alex, I don't know anymore."

"I don't know what's going on inside your head. But I think you'll know the right thing to do when you think it's right."

"I think I do."

"Need any help figuring out what how to do it?"

"No, I think I know."

The next day Jimmy and Alice met in their usual spot on the pier for lunch. "So you wanna talk about college?"

"What brought you around to it?"

"I don't know. I guess I just realized you were right. We will have to talk about it eventually."

"Okay. So what do you want to talk about then?"

"You were the one that wanted to talk about it before, you tell me."

"I'll just get right to it then. Obviously there's a good chance we're gonna be going to different colleges. So there's that."

"What about it?"

"We'll it means we might have to…break up…a little."

"What for?"

"What do you mean 'what for'? Cause we'll be too far away from each other."

"So we'll have a long distance relationship."

"You really think that would work?"

"There's always the chance we'll go to school really close to each other."

"We both know the school you'll be going to won't be anywhere near the one I will. We've both done the research. Or at least I have."

"I don't really wanna talk about this. Nice weather we're having?"

"What if we try to get back together after college? I can teach somewhere close to the med school you get into. I'm sure that'll work out fine."

"But what if I end up going to some med school far away, like what if I get into the big one, Johns Hopkins? That's in Maryland."

"Then I'll go with you. Why wouldn't I?"

"Cause that's a long way to go just to stick around with your boyfriend, right?"

"It's not too far considering I love you."

"It's really a lot to ask of you."

"Well, it's not like we could just not go to college so we didn't have to be apart."

"No, that's not gonna happen. I just wanna figure out a way not to have to break up with you. Cause I love you too. And what if?..."

"What if we meet other people?"

"Well, I know I won't. You're the only one for me. But I know I must be replaceable."

"Oh, come on Jimmy. You know better than that. I tried dating another guy once, remember? And the whole time I wanted to be with you."

"But there's a difference. You actually dated someone else. I focused on being a better person so you'd wanna take me back. I didn't even think about trying to see another girl. Sam and Andy told me I should, but I could even imagine it."

"I left him pretty quickly. I mean we did date for a while. But it didn't take me very long to realize you're the one."

"Well, I think we've talked about that enough, don't you?" Jimmy said, now ready to change the subject.

"I guess so. But isn't there anything else we can talk about?"

"So why do you want to be a teacher anyway?"

"I've always been pretty good around kids. Not babies. I mean school-age kids. People always tell me I've got what it takes to be a teacher. And I think they're right. What about you? Why do you want to be a doctor?"

"I've always been really fascinated by the way things work in hospitals. And I was there a lot when I was younger. What with diabetes related things and other stuff. Another thing since I've been working in the hospital I've learned that to be a good doctor you have to be cool under pressure."

"Plus you're really smart."

"Yeah, that too. But I've taught myself not to release my anger. I put it to good use. It focuses me. They say it's important to be like that if you want to be a doctor, or take up medicine in some other way."

"That's great. I'm glad you've got everything in focus. I don't know if I can say the same for me."

"I might be wrong but it seems like this whole time there's been something on your mind. Am I right?"

All of a sudden Alice broke into tears. There was no warning, except possibly for the fact that she had seemed distracted. Jimmy moved closer and pulled her in till her face was up above his chest and she could cry into his shoulder.

"What's going on? What's wrong?"

"My brother's moving out."

"I'm so sorry. You guys where really close. This must be hard for you."

"You'd think it would be easier. He's been away at college for most of the last four years. But he's always been so great to me. It's just hard to believe he'll be even farther away. I guess I know how you feel about us going to schools so far apart."

They sat there for a long while. Jimmy held Alice tight in his arms. Every once in a while he whispered into her ears "Everything's gonna be alright. You'll see."

_**Notes to the readers:**_

***Reviews are much appreciated!!**

_** This is the seventeenth chapter of my story "A New Life". If you haven't read my first saga you may not know where these characters are coming from. So you might want to read it, or at least "Meant to Be Parts 5-9". This story takes place before the end of "Meant To Be"._

_***Lilly and Oliver, and Miley and Jackson are in their thirties/forties. Jimmy is nearly __**17. **__Rose is nealy __**15. **__Michael and Susan (Miley's daughter), and Robbie Rod (Jackson's son) are nearly __**13.**_

_****If you want to find my other stories (My first saga) click on my screen name on the top of this page, and you can find my stories on my profile. If you want to stay updated as to when I post new chapters, please subscribe to my username!!_

_*****There will be more in the near future. So I hope you will continue reading. _


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